Galileo Galilei
|birth_place = Pisa, Duchy of Florence, Italy |residence = Grand Duchy of Tuscany, Italy |nationality = Italian |death_date = |death_place = Arcetri, Grand Duchy of Tuscany, Italy |field = Astronomy, Physics and Mathematics |work_institutions = University of Pisa University of Padua |alma_mater = University of Pisa |academic_advisors = Ostilio RicciF. Vinci, Ostilio Ricci da Fermo, Maestro di Galileo Galilei, Fermo, 1929. |notable_students = Benedetto Castelli Mario Guiducci Vincenzio Vivianihttp://genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu.id.php?id=134975 |known_for = Kinematics Dynamics Telescopic observational astronomy Heliocentrism |religion = Roman Catholic |signature = Galileo Signature.svg |footnotes = His father was the musician Vincenzo Galilei. His mistress was Marina Gamba and Maria Celeste was one of Galileo's daughters. }} Galileo Galilei (15 February 1564Drake (1978, p.1). The date of Galileo's birth is given according to the Julian calendar, which was then in force throughout the whole of Christendom. In 1582 it was replaced in Italy and several other Catholic countries with the Gregorian calendar. Unless otherwise indicated, dates in this article are given according to the Gregorian calendar. – 8 January 1642) by John Gerard. Retrieved 11 August 2007 was an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who played a major role in the Scientific Revolution. His achievements include improvements to the telescope and consequent astronomical observations, and support for Copernicanism. Galileo has been called the "father of modern observational astronomy," (page 217) the "father of modern physics," the "father of science," and "the Father of Modern Science."Finocchiaro (2007). Stephen Hawking says, "Galileo, perhaps more than any other single person, was responsible for the birth of modern science.""Galileo and the Birth of Modern Science, by Stephen Hawking, American Heritage's Invention & Technology, Spring 2009, Vol. 24, No. 1, p. 36 The motion of uniformly accelerated objects, taught in nearly all high school and introductory college physics courses, was studied by Galileo as the subject of kinematics. His contributions to observational astronomy include the telescopic confirmation of the phases of Venus, the discovery of the four largest satellites of Jupiter (named the Galilean moons in his honour), and the observation and analysis of sunspots. Galileo also worked in applied science and technology, improving compass design. Galileo's championing of Copernicanism was controversial within his lifetime, when a large majority of philosophers and astronomers still subscribed (at least outwardly) to the geocentric view that the Earth is at the centre of the universe. After 1610, when he began supporting heliocentrism publicly, he met with bitter opposition from some philosophers and clerics, and two of the latter eventually denounced him to the Roman Inquisition early in 1615. Although he was cleared of any offence at that time, the Catholic Church nevertheless condemned heliocentrism as "false and contrary to Scripture" in February 1616,Sharratt (1994, pp.127–131), McMullin (2005a). and Galileo was warned to abandon his support for it—which he promised to do. When he later defended his views in his most famous work, Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, published in 1632, he was tried by the Inquisition, found "vehemently suspect of heresy," forced to recant, and spent the rest of his life under house arrest. Notes